June 27, 2005

Whit Athey's Haplogroup Predictor

Whit Athey's haplogroup predictor is a very useful tool for predicting your monophyletic Y-chromosomal lineage (haplogroup) from Y-chromosomal short tandem repeat (STR) data that is usually reported by DNA testing companies. It is also quite useful for inferring the haplogroup of Y-STR haplotypes published in the literature.

Now, the haplogroup predictor has a new updated stable version, as well as a new beta version. This is a great example of how laymen can produce a high quality/high utility product that helps thousands of others; judging from personal experience (sample size=1), Athey's haplogroup predictor is more accurate than that of at least one well-known testing company, and I have yet to receive a bizarre result from it when using it with haplotype data from the literature.

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